Dear Members and Friends:

Our Winter meeting will be held on January 21 from 1:30 until 4 at the Belle Cooledge Library, 5600 South Land Park Drive, 95822. If the weather is foggy or very rainy we will cancel the meeting so please call me if you are unsure. We'll discuss the problems you may have had during the year and how you plan on making life better for your turtles and tortoises in 2012. I'm going to try to landscape a little and build a 'maternity hill'.

Our Fall meeting did not go off as expected. Pretty much 'Murphy's Law' was in effect and anything that could go wrong did go wrong. The main reason was the renovation going on outside of the meeting room. We could not use the door and had to walk around to the front entrance to the library and enter that way which was a bit inconvenient for most of us.

I arrived with my station wagon packed with 'stuff' for the meeting. There were boxes of sale table items, raffle prizes, plastic pools, aquariums to give away, lots and lots of plants to donate and a bunch of water plants to talk about. I barely had room to sit behind the steering wheel. I didn't see anyone out front so I waited and waited unable to leave the car since the sunshine was directly on the THIRTEEN turtles and plants inside the car by the back window. There were some teenage boys on skateboards speeding about as well. It didn't seem wise to leave the car unattended.

Mary Sue finally came out and I enlisted her help and one or two other people showed up to help while everyone was seated inside wondering where I was..........anyway, we wrestled the pool out of the car and filled it with water and the turtles for adoption. We got the plants out and people began taking them and, unfortunately, the water plants I had brought for a presentation, were taken as well.

But it didn't matter because our meeting room was packed with a lot of new faces, our new Facebook friends, and lots of them kept me very busy signing them up as new members. I was standing in a corner the entire time with the paperwork sliding down onto the box turtles up for adoption. There was no way to have a 'meeting' but everyone seemed to enjoy being together and chatting.

When I first came into the room, I noticed everyone was eating. Dimitri was very busy in his little corner doing pre-hibernation checkups (thanks a bunch for your hard work, sorry I couldn't get there to give you a drink!) We did have the raffle and eventually the crowd thinned out. I had not seen any of the food that you brought except for Jeanette frying the lumpia in the kitchen the whole time. After cleaning up the room, Maria Lambert came up to me with a small blue paper plate containing some dried up old cold rice and something else shriveled and she looked me in the eye with so much sadness and quietly said, "THERE ARE NO FORKS LEFT!!!"

SEE YOU AT THE MEETING!!

WINTER NOTES: Hibernation time gives us the time to reflect on how our pets did last season and how to improve things for the coming year. By the time we have our meeting, we'll only be 4 weeks away from the turtles starting to wake up in this area. Be alert starting around Valentine's Day. Also, if we have a good rain, you might find hatchlings (turtles AND tortoises) coming up out of the ground that you had no clue were even there. Watch where you walk!!

If your tortoises are asleep in a box in the garage or in a closet, every so often listen for noises. If they become restless, something might be wrong. If it continues, you could take the tortoise out of the box, give him a little soak, dry him off thoroughly and then return him to the box. If an outdoor tortoise or box turtle is ill, they often will come out and sit out all day and night. Even the ones you don't want to hibernate and have indoors may not want to eat, etc. and it is ok to turn off the lights and let them get cooler and sleep from now until about Valentine's Day when you will notice them coming back to life.

All seems ok so far after a devastating summer of murder and mayhem in the back yard due to a vicious raccoon. We suspect it was a female living in a neighbors attic with a baby. Once Ray finally got them out of his attic, there was no more trouble. But prior to that, nobody was getting much sleep around here.

The nights lately have been in the low 20's but it hasn't stopped Just Jim Jr or Jim the Jerk (Greeks) and the new residents, "Ma and Pa" (Hermann's tortoises) from coming out to bask in the weak sunshine from perhaps 10:30 am until 1:30 pm when the shade returns to their enclosure. A few box turtles join them as well. I no longer try to understand but just make sure they are under cover for the night. Even the baby sliders are swimming about after being frozen overnight. It's just amazing. I hope our plants survive as well as they do.

Lately, Blondie has been trying to get out of the greenhouse. She will stand on her hind legs and with her front paws push on the door. If I am not careful to 'latch' it closed, she will open it and come out and freeze to death. I have a feeling she wants to dig a nest again. Everyone else is quiet for now. Feeding them is a problem because thousands of ants are ready to swarm on any food that is in any way wet such as bananas or those red fruits from the cactus which the tortoises love so much. I really try to avoid problems here but there is always some annoyance going on outside!

There aren't too many turtles in my house for the winter. (Famous last words??) Just a few victims of the raccoon who are missing their feet (but surviving well) and Fong and Fong the Asian or Chinese box turtles who hatched about 6 weeks ago. They love to eat which is great. They were joined by a baby slider last week who was brought here by club member, Patty. The turtle was given to her 84 year old mother, yes, in the little plastic container with a palm tree. Many of the pet shops still get away with selling hundreds of these sliders. Not much we can do except to try to keep some of them alive.

On another topic, our FACEBOOK page is one of the best things we have as a club. There are almost 300 good people chatting back and forth all day, every day, and it's a great way to have your questions answered immediately and if someone does not agree, you will certainly hear about it. It's sort of addicting! You'll find yourself checking in quite often, especially if there is a controversy as there was over the raccoon and how to deal with it. WOW. There were plenty of heated arguments.

I'd like to say to the Facebook friends who joined up at the last meeting, here's how the gatherings usually work. These are not 'formal' meetings. There are no minutes read, nobody is elected to anything, but we are there to enjoy each other and learn a little or a lot. We try to have a little 'talk' about seasonal problems between 1:30 and 3 including questions and answers and also have Show and Tell (if anyone has brought their pet to talk about) and anyone is welcome to give a presentation. At 3, we have MUNCH AND MINGLE and while we are eating, we start the raffle which can last up to an hour and is a lot of fun. Then, for those who choose to stay longer, there is more turtle talk and also we have to clean up the meeting room and put all of the chairs and tables back where they belong. Many thanks for those who stay to help, it is appreciated.

In addition, thanks to every one of you for your continued support including lots of dues 'plus' which totally keeps the club going and going and going. I couldn't do it without you!! You are all so terrific. (Loved all of the Christmas cards too!!)

Future Meetings:

April 21 1:30 to 4
July 21 1:30 to 4
August 18 TURTLERAMA 11-4
October 20 1:30 to 4